Natural Resources Conservation Service April 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given of the intention of NRCS to issue a series of revised conservation practice standards in its National Handbook of Conservation Practices. These standards include: Anaerobic Digester (Code 366); Anionic Polyacrylamide (PAM) Application (Code 450); Brush Management (Code 314); Fish Raceway or Tank (Code 398); Irrigation Ditch Lining (Code 428); Irrigation Pipeline (Code 430); Irrigation Reservoir (Code 436); Surface Drain, Field Ditch (Code 607); Surface Drainage, Main or Lateral (Code 608); Roof Runoff Structure (Code 558); and Surface Roughening (Code 609). NRCS State Conservationists who choose to adopt these practices for use within their States will incorporate them into Section IV of their respective electronic Field Office Technical Guides. These practices may be used in conservation systems that treat highly erodible land or on land determined to be a wetland.

Section 1261(b)(1) of the Food Security Act of 1985, as amended by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Act) requires the Secretary of Agriculture to develop standard operating procedures to standardize the operations of State Technical Committees. NRCS published an interim final rule for State Technical Committees, 7 CFR part 610, in the Federal Register on November 25, 2008, that states NRCS will incorporate standard operating procedures for State Technical Committees into its directives system and provide public notice of those procedures. NRCS seeks public comment on this document that includes the current NRCS standard operating procedures as set forth in the NRCS directives system.